PORTLAND LIFE

About Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon is a great city with distinct and interesting neighborhoods, full of good restaurants and bars, coffee shops on every corner, locally-made beer pubs, and hundreds of food carts where you can try out food from around the world.

No Sales Tax!

Portland is not an expensive city, with the lowest cost-of-living on the U.S. West Coast. PELA students spend about $1,000 per month on living expenses, which includes, housing, food, transportation and fun! Best of all there is no sales tax in Oregon, while most other states have a 7-8% sales tax.

Living in Portland

Portland is a safe, very clean and beautiful city. You can feel safe in Portland downtown and neighborhoods night and day. Portlanders are friendly and helpful. Even though Portland has 2.2 million people living in it--and has all the benefits and amenities of a big city--it has a friendly, small town feel. Portland has one of the best bus and city-train systems in America. Portland is also the most bicycle friendly city in America. You do not need a car to enjoy living in and exploring Portland!

Food & Drink in Portland

Portland is often called the "beer-capital of the world", with more varieties and brands of beer made in local breweries than anywhere else--and with over a dozen of beer festivals held in the city every year! Oregon is also becoming more known for wine, with over a hundred wineries in and near Portland, where you can sample all kinds of wine--pinot noir and pinot gris wines are an Oregon specialty.

Portland is also famous for its food carts! Every neighborhood in Portland has its own "food cart center", offering food from around the world. Many food carts are open all day, so you can get breakfast, lunch or dinner any day of the week. There are so many food carts in Portland, there is even a smartphone app for them!

Festivals and Events in Portland

Portland offers a great variety of cultural and art festivals, music concerts, races of all kinds.

Every month, there is something new to do, with chocolate tastings, Christmas performances, zombie walks, and silly races. Each month, PELA posts a calendar in its student lounge highlighting a variety of activities and events you can enjoy.

The State of Oregon

Oregon is a place of natural beauty & exciting adventures. It is the state with the most diverse climate in all the United States. Oregon has cool rainforests and hot deserts, ocean beaches and snow-covered mountains. There are so many places to visit in Oregon!

Along the Oregon Coast, there are hundreds of miles of scenic views, with many tourist destinations, from a 200-year old fort to natural sea lion caves.

In the Columbia Gorge & Hood River are many waterfalls and trails to enjoy an afternoon of driving or hiking.

In Eastern Oregon you can do many outdoor activities like rock climbing, camping, skiing, horseback riding, and whitewater rafting.

In Southern Oregon are unusual landmarks, like Crater Lake and the Oregon Caves, along with the nationally-known Oregon

Shakespeare Festival.

Join us in the best state in the U.S.!

You can find a lot of thing to do I PORTLAND: restaurants, bars and all kind of fun activities. Oh, and Portland’s festivals are awesome!